Dow Today: Travelers Companies (TRV) Leads The Day Higher, International Business Machines (IBM) Lags

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed down 21.0 points (-0.2%) at 13,971. During the day, 382.3 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 628.7 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio closed at 1,335 issues advancing vs. 1,640 declining with 128 unchanged.

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The Dow component that led the way higher today was Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV), which sported a 35-cent gain (+0.4%) bringing the stock to $79.21. Volume for Travelers Companies ended the day at 1.6 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 2.3 million shares.

Travelers Companies has a market cap of $30.18 billion and is part of the financial sector and insurance industry. Shares are up 10.2% year to date as of Friday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.3%.

The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 12.7, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Travelers Companies as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, attractive valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

• You can view the full Travelers Companies Ratings Report.

Holding the Dow back today was International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lagged the broader Dow index with a $1.52 decline (-0.8%) bringing the stock to $200.16. This single loss lowered the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 11.5 points or roughly accounting for 54.8% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for International Business Machines ended the day at 2.9 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of four million shares.

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International Business Machines has a market cap of $225.69 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are up 4.3% year to date as of Friday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.7%.

International Business Machines Corporation provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.1, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates International Business Machines as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, notable return on equity and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full International Business Machines Ratings Report.

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